11 Reasons General Theme 11 Reasons why Terra chose Slade
Character/s/Pairings Slade/Terra
Fandom Teen Titans
Rating K
Prompt 55. dazed / spacing-out
Warnings/Disclaimers I own nothing!
Most of the city believed that at the first chance Slade got, he took Terra in. Actually, he didn't find her for several hours. It was almost morning before he found her staggering through the desert.
"She must have gone without sleep, sir." Wintergreen said this calmly, as if he was mentioning a particularly bad patch of weather. "The tower is quite a ways away."
"Hmm." It didn't really merit a response. Driving for hours looking for a pissed-off teenager in a mostly-new Land Rover had that kind of effect on him.
"She's slowing down."
Slade actually had to bite his lip to keep from shouting a sarcastic reply. And then-
"Sir-!"
"I saw it," he growled, then jumped out of the still-moving car and began to run towards Terra, who had just fallen flat on her face. She didn't move as he got closer, and Slade had to slow down to keep from kicking sand in her hair. "Terra?"
She lifted her head an inch off of the ground, and looked up at him with a dazed look on her face. "Slade...?"
"Yes." He turned to see Wintergreen still sitting in the car a few dozen feet away, watching them.
"I've seen you...at...places. It was muddy-right?"
"That's right. Hang on-" He knelt next to her and tried to get an arm under hers. "Terra, I need you to just walk overe to the car. You've been walking a while, haven't you?"
"I ran mostly, then...then my legs wouldn't run. So I walked...until I fell down." She giggled to herself, at her own private joke. Slade got her to stand up, and she nearly fell over backwards again. She took a few steps, then pulled away from him. "Wait..."
"What is it now?" he asked, reaching for her arm again. She took an unsteady step back, and frowned. "Damnit Terra, what's wrong?"
"You're the enemy..." she said this mostly to herself, then she yelled out "You're-! You're the bad guy!" Then, when he didn't reply, she yelled, "You are!"
"If I was the bad guy, why am I helping you?" Slade held his hand out, and added in a kinder tone "I'm not your enemy anymore, Terra."
And poor, dehydrated, exhausted Terra, believed. She took his outstretched hand, and followed him to the car.